RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina’s capital city finally is getting to play host to the NHL All-Star Game that was scheduled for Raleigh in 2005 but was one of the casualties of the league’s lockout season.
The Sunday afternoon game at the RBC Center will be contested under a new — and what the league hopes is an attention-getting — format. Two team captains, Eric Staal of Carolina and Nicklas Lidstrom of Detroit, tonight will choose up sides, picking from among the 42-player pool of selections for the Team Lidstrom vs. Team Staal matchup in the skills competition Saturday night and the All-Star Game on Sunday.
“This is exciting for our fan base, for everybody in our organization,” Staal said on a league conference call this week. He added, “I’m just going to enjoy the whole experience, and I’m looking forward to the weekend, having a lot of family come in and (have it be) something that I’ll remember for a very long time.”
Staal’s assistant captains are Mike Green of Washington and Ryan Kesler of Vancouver, while Lidstrom’s assistants are Patrick Kane of Chicago and Martin St. Louis of Tampa Bay.
In the wake of injury withdrawals that include Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin of Pittsburgh, the available 36 players include Avalanche centers Matt Duchene and Paul Stastny, and the potential is there for them, as well as other teammates among the all- stars, to wind up on opposite teams. That isn’t unprecedented in the NHL in recent years, thanks to the World vs. North America format used briefly, and it led to Avs teammates Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg taking the opening faceoff against each other at the Pepsi Center in 2001.
There was some discussion about announcing the choices in batches to avoid last-man embarrassment, but now the major guidelines involve staggering choices by positions, with both teams ending up with three goalies, six defensemen and 12 forwards.
Avs defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk is among 12 NHL rookies who will be divided between the two teams for the skills competition.
Terry Frei: 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com
